The Magna Carta, written in 1215 attempted to appeal to King
John of England to grant certain rights to the people. The
Magna Carta is considered by some to be the cornerstone of
liberty and the basis on which later documents would be written.

"Nothing of particular
excitement occurring for a considerable time our countrymen
seemed to fall into a state of insensibility to our situation.
The duty on tea not yet repealed & the Declaratory act of a
right in the British parliament to bind us by their laws in all
cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court of
inquiry held in R. Island in
1762(*), with a power to send persons to England to be tried for
offences committed here was considered at our session of the
spring of 1773 as demanding attention. Not thinking our old &
leading members up to the point of forwardness & zeal which the
times required, Mr. Henry, R. H. Lee,
Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr & myself agreed to meet in the evening
in a private room [the Apollo room, pictured below] of the
Raleigh to consult on the state of things."
- Thomas Jefferson's
Account of the Declaration of Independence.
* Although Jefferson stated "1762," it was most
likely "1772" that he meant.

"The next event which
excited our sympathies for
Massachusetts was the Boston port bill, by which that port
was to be shut up on the 1st of June, 1774. This arrived while
we were in session in the spring of that year."
- Thomas Jefferson's
Account of the Declaration of Independence.

The Second Continental Congress convenes in May with no response
from King George III to the petition of redress of grievances
that the first Continental Congress sent to him. The second
Continental Congress begins to take on responsibilities emerging
as a like simile to a national Government, during May of 1775.
The Congress established the Continental Army and a continental
currency. A Post Office for the United Colonies was
established towards the end of 1775.

1775

May 20th

May 20th, 1775 saw a
document that was headed with, "THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE BY THE CITIZENS OF MECKLENBURGH COUNTY,
NORTH CAROLINA, ON THE
TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY, 1775, WITH ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS
PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNOUR, UNDER THE AUTHORITY AND DIRECTIONS
OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF
NORTH-CAROLINA"

1775

August

King George III in August, 1775, issues a royal proclamation
that the "King's American subjects" were "engaged in open and
avowed rebellion." Later that year the British Parliament
passed the American Prohibitory Act. The act declares all
American vessels and cargoes forfeit to the crown.

"With the help
therefore of Rushworth [*], whom we rummaged over
for the revolutionary precedents & forms of the Puritans of that
day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat
modernizing their phrases, for appointing the 1st day of June,
on which the Port bill was to commence, for a day of fasting,
humiliation & prayer, to implore heaven to avert from us the
evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of
our rights, and to turn the hearts of the King & parliament to
moderation & justice."
- Thomas Jefferson's
Account of the Declaration of Independence.
*a popular book, John
Rushworth's Historical Collections

1776

May

Congress learns in May, 1776 that the Crown had negotiated
treaties with various German states to commission mercenaries to
fight in America. Many in colonial Americans became convinced
that England is treating the colonies as though it were a
foreign country.

1776

May 10

The Continental Congress
passes the "Resolution for the Formation of Local Governments"
on May 10, 1776.

1776

Mid May

Eight colonies had decided to support Independence, by the
middle of May, 1776.

1776

May 15

On May 15, 1776 the
Virginia Convention directed
their delegates in Congress to propose that the body declare
independence from England and to appoint a committee to prepare
a declaration and plan of government.

The Continental
Congress held session in the
Pennsylvania State House which later became Independence
Hall. In the session Richard
Henry Lee brought to the floor of the Continental Congress
of the United Colonies, on June 7, 1776, the resolution, ``Resolved, That these United Colonies are,
and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all political connection between them and the state of Great
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.''

1776

June 8th

Richard Henry Lee's
resolution for independence was sent to the committee of the
whole (the entire congress) the day after the original motion.

1776

June 9th

Most of Saturday, June
9th, 1776 was spent debating the resolution and idea of
independence. The debate continued on Monday, June 10th.

1776

June 10th

The whole Congress spent
much of a second day, June 10, 1776, deliberating the resolution
on independence. Pennsylvania,
New York and
South Carolina expressed the
primary oppositions.
Thomas Jefferson in his observation stated, "It appearing
in the course of these debates that the colonies of
N. York,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware,
Maryland, and
South Carolina were not yet
matured for falling from the parent stem." then believing
that more time is needed, to debate the issue, said, "to give
an opportunity to the delegates from those colonies which had
not yet given authority to adopt this decisive measure, to
consult their constituents .. and in the meanwhile, that no time
be lost, that a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration".

1776

June 11th

The Lee Resolution is
postponed by a vote of seven to five with New York abstaining. A
Committee of Five is established to compose a declaration
statement during the following three week recess. A Committee of
Five was chosen on June 11th to draw up a declaration draft.
Thomas Jefferson was
unanimously voted as its first member. Also chosen was
John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. In Thomas
Paine's Common Sense he suggested a document to declare
independence from Great Britain. It was that suggestion that
originated the idea for a draft of such a document.
Jefferson was assigned, by the Committee of Five, the task of
producing a first draft.

June 11th

The American Army retreats
to Lake Champlain from the campaign in Canada.

1776

June 11th - 28th

Thomas Jefferson took
the following seventeen days writing the original draft. His
research included George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights,
passed on June 12, 1776, and Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
Thomas
Jefferson first presented his "fair"
draft to Benjamin Franklin and
John Adams for their
considerations and amendments prior to the presentation of a
"rough draught" to the committee of five. Jefferson's
reasoning was, "… because they were the
two members of whose judgments and amendments I wished most to
have the benefit before presenting it to the Committee."
Adams and Franklin had made only a few changes.

1776

June 28th

The amended draft was presented to Congress by
the Committee of Five and was read on Friday, June 28, 1776.
Historian John C. Fitzpatrick, described the first draft as that
the declaration's, "...genesis roughly
speaking, is the first three sections of George Mason's immortal
composition (Virginia
Declaration of Rights), Thomas
Jefferson's Preamble to the Virginia
Constitution, and Richard Henry Lee's resolution..."

1776

July 1st

On Monday, July 1st, 9am
Congress was called to order. Most of the hot and humid day
concentrated on discussion for or against independence.
Pennsylvania and
South Carolina delegations as
well as the delegation from Delaware
were split on the issue. New York
was allowed to abstain by absence.
"On Monday, the
1st of July the house resolved itself into a committee of the
whole & resumed the consideration of the original motion made by
the delegates of Virginia,
which being again debated through the day, was carried in the
affirmative by the votes of N.
Hampshire, Connecticut,
Massachusetts,
Rhode Island,
N. Jersey,
Maryland,
Virginia,
N. Carolina, &
Georgia.
S. Carolina and
Pennsylvania voted against it.
Delaware having but two members
present, they were divided. The delegates for
New York declared they were
for it themselves & were assured their constituents were for it,
but that their instructions having been drawn near a twelvemonth
before, when reconciliation was still the general object, they
were enjoined by them to do nothing which should impede that
object. They therefore thought themselves not justifiable in
voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the
question, which was given them."
- Thomas Jefferson's
Account of the Declaration of Independence.
The resolution for Independence would not yet be adopted. Debate
was postponed until Tuesday, the next day.

1776

July 2nd

July 2, 1776 saw
substantial movement towards the adoption of Independence.
Robert Morris and John Dickinson deliberately abstained from the
vote, by their absence. The remaining members of the
Pennsylvania delegation voted
in favor of the resolution. Arthur Middleton, representing South
Carolina during his father's (Henry
Middleton) absence and against his wishes, voted with his
delegation in favor of Independence. The Delaware 1 to 1
deadlock was broken to favor the resolution by the arrival of
Caesar Rodney who ailing of cancer rode the whole night of rain
and storm to cast the final vote of approval that passed the
resolution. The resolution for Independence passes by approval
of 12 colonies with New York
the only hold out.
The Association of the United Colonies of America by their
unified vote becomes the United States of America.

July 2nd

The British Army
transported by the British fleet arrive at
New York on July 2nd.

1776

July 3rd

Debates over the language
of the Declaration of Independence as presented by the Committee
of Five carried on over July 3rd and 4th, 1776.
Link:
Jefferson's notes on Debates

1776

July 3rd

John Adams
had thought July 2nd would be the date celebrated by generations
to come as he expressed in a letter to Abigail Adams, his wife,
on July 3, 1776, "The Second Day of
July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of
America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade,
with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and
Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from
this Time forward forever more."

The debate on the language
of the Declaration of Independence continued into July 4th, 1776
altering the document coming to a final approval. 12 of the 13
delegations, New York still
holding out, came to an agreement late in the afternoon on July
4th to declare themselves independent nations.
New York's delegates were
required by their legislature to abstain from voting or signing
any documented instrument of independence.Thomas Jefferson
expressed his disappointment by writing: "The
pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping
terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this
reason those passages which conveyed censure on the people of
England were struck out, lest they should give them offense. The
clause too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa,
was struck out in compliance to
South Carolina and Georgia,
who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves,
and who on the contrary still wished to continue it. Our
Northern brethren also I believe felt a little tender under
these censures; for tho' their people have very few slaves
themselves yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of
them to others."Thomas Jefferson
is justly considered the primary author of the Declaration of
Independence.
In the evening of July 4, 1776 the Congress, presided over by
John Hancock, ordered:
“That the declaration be authenticated and printed That the
committee appointed to prepare the declaration superintend and
correct the press. That the copies of the declaration be sent to
the several assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils
of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the
con­tinental troops, and that it be proclaimed in each of the
United States, and at the head of the army.” Many of the
colonialists were unable to afford a newspaper, so the Congress
did not leave it to the press to disseminate the consideration
of declaring independence.
Only President John Hancock
and Secretary Charles Thomson signed the final working copy of
the Declaration on the evening of July 4th to lay their
authority to the document. Upon his signing,
John Hancock commented,
"The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let
them double their reward."
With the official adoption of the Declaration of Independence,
church bells rang out across Philadelphia,
PA.
Links: Declaration of
Independence as amended by Congress
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress -
Jefferson's rough draft

1776

Five distinct parts

The composition of the Declaration of Independence consists of
five distinct parts. The First is the introduction that declares
the causes. The second part, the preamble, states the principles
that were previously recognized as "self-evident". The body of
the document has two parts with the first giving evidence of a
pattern of abuse and usurpations. The second part of the body
reiterates the appeals to the Crown, without avail. Then the
conclusion clearly and succinctly declares independence and
severing all ties to England.

1776

July 4th
Dunlap

As ordered by the
resolution, to set the document to press, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania printer John
Dunlap was commissioned to print the copies of the agreed to
declaration.
The copies were "signed" in type only. The attending delegates
did not sign the approved document on July 4th. It is believed
that John Dunlap printed 200 Broadsides the evening of July 4th,
1776.

1776

July 5th

The 200 copies of the
Declaration of Independence were delivered to Congress on July
5th, 1776.John Hancock sent a copy
from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence to
the Committee of Safety of
Pennsylvania, another to the Convention of
New Jersey, and yet another to
Colonel Haslet, of Delaware,
instructing him to read it at the head of his battalion. John
Adams sent a copy to a friend. Elbridge Gerry sent copies
to two friends; General Warren and Major Hawley.
Only two of these broadsides with the signatures of
John Hancock and Charles
Thomson were sent to King George III.

1776

July 5th

A copy of the Declaration
of Independence is sent to the King of England. Contrary to legend, the
King did not receive a copy signed by
John Hancock that could be
read without his spectacles.

1776

July 6th

President
John Hancock hoping for a
swift and unanimous consent for independence from all thirteen
colonies sent one of Dunlap's Broadsides to the
New York Provincial Congress
on Saturday, July 6th, 1776.

1776

July 6th

The Pennsylvania Evening
Post is the first paper to print the Declaration of Independence
on July 6th.

1776

July 6th
- Cist & Steiner

German printers Cist and
Steiner produced a plain laid paper German version broadside of
the Declaration of Independence on June 9th, 1776. This copy is
held in the archives of Gettysburg College.

1776

July 8th

The Declaration of
Independence is read in the first two public readings on June 8th,
1776. John Nixon read the Declaration at Independence Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A second reading occured the same day in Trenton, N.J.

1776

July 9th

John Jay rushed from New York
City to preside over the New York
Provincial Congress on July 9th, 1776. In session at the Court
House in White Plains the New York
Provincial Congress adopted the following resolution: "That
reasons assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring The
United Colonies Free and Independent States are cogent and
conclusive, and that now we approve the same, and will at the
risque of our lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies
in supporting it."

Philadelphia
printer, Henrich Millers published a German Newspaper called the
Pennsylvanisher staatsbote. Printed on the front page on July
9th was a complete German translation of the American
Declaration of Independence. Millers' paper reported: "Yesterday at noon, the Declaration of
Independence, which is published on this news paper's front
page, was publicly proclaimed in English from an elevated
platform in t he courtyard of the State House. Thereby the
United Colonies of North America were absolved from all
previously pledged allegiance to the king of Great Britain, they
are and henceforth will be totally free and independent. The
proclamation was read by Colonel Nixon, sheriff Dewees stood by
his side and many members of the Congress, of the [Pennsylvania]
Assembly, generals and other high army officers were also
pres­ent. Several thousand people were in the courtyard to
witness the solemn occasion. After the reading of the
Declaration there were three cheers and the cry: God bless the
free states of North America! To this every true friend of these
colonies can only say, Amen. "

Pennsylvania Gazette publishes the Declaration on
10 July

theMaryland Gazette publishes the Declaration on 11
July

1776

July 15th

The
New York Resolution was
brought before the Continental Congress on July 15th, 1776. It
was only then that it was proper to place the title as "The
Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen States of America."

1776

July 19th

After learning of the
New York Resolution in support
of independence, on July 19, 1776, the Continental Congress
resolved that the Declaration of Independence be, "fairly
engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile [sic] of 'The
unanimous decla­ration of the thirteen United States of
America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every
member of Congress."Engrossed

1776

July 19th

Timothy Matlack, who had
written out George Washington's
commission, assisted Charles Thomson, the Secretary of the
Congress, prepare an official engrossed document (engrossed
means in large clear handwriting).

1776

Aug. 2nd

The August 2nd entry in
the journal of the Continental Congress is recorded: "The
declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the
table was signed." The parchment was measured at 24 1/4 by
29 3/4 inches. John Hancock,
being president, signed first using the now famous bold
signature centered below the text, contrary to the custom of
signing to the right. The others, in attendance on August 2nd,
1776, signed to the right arranged in order of their state's
geographical positions beginning with the northern state of
Maine ending with the most
southern state of Georgia. Others
signed later. Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris and
Thomas Mc Kean were among the
late signers. Matthew Thornton also signed late finding no room
to sign with his delegation. Although the July 19th resolution
ordered that, "when engrossed, be signed by every member of
Congress." a few who were not able to return in time to
sign. John Dickinson did not sign still subscribing to the
possibility of reconciliation with Britain. Robert R Livingston
on of the Committee of Five refused to sign believing the
Declaration to be too soon. Eventually 56 delegates of the
Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence.

1776

Aug. 2nd

After being forced to
retreat at Charleston, South
Carolina a British reinforcement arrives at
New York on August 2nd, 1776.

1776

Location

It is likely that the
Declaration of Independence was filed in the office of the
Secretary, Charles Thomson in Philadelphia, PA after the signing
ceremony on August 2, 1776.

1776

Dec. 20th

Location

Due to the numerous
British victories the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore,
Maryland and reconvened on
December 20, 1776. It is assumed that the Declaration of
Independence was kept with the Continental Congress.

The Continental Congress
led by John Hancock had
ordered, on January 18th, 1777, a second official copy of the
Declaration of Independence to be printed with the names of all
the signers. Copies were to be sent to each State. The remaining
signers of the declaration were kept secret until the victories
of Trenton and Princeton bolstered the confidence and boldness
of the Congress.

1777

Jan. 19th

The Continental Congress
on January 19, 1777 ordered that an official copy be sent to
each of the United States.

1777

Jan. 19th

Baltimore Postmaster,
printer, and publisher Mary Katherine Goddard was commissioned
to copy the original fully signed copy of the engrossed
Declaration of Independence on January 19, 1777.

1777

March 4th

Location

The Continental Congress
remained in session from December 20, 1776 until March 4th,
1777.
The original signed engrossed copy remained in Baltimore with
the Continental Congress until March, 1777.

1777

Location

The Declaration of
Independence would have been back in Philadelphia, PA from March
to September, 1977, assuming it was kept with the Continental
Congress.

1777

Location

The Declaration of
Independence would have moved with the Congress to Lancaster, PA
for a single day, September, 1777.

1777

Location

The Continental Congress
moves to York, PA on September 30, 1777, with the Declaration of
Independence being kept at the York courthouse until June 1778.

Congress convenes in New
York, NY, in 1785 conducting session until 1790. The Declaration
of Independence was kept at the old New York City Hall and may
have been temporarily relocated during a remodel of the building
by Pierre L'Enfant.

The First Congress under
the U.S. Constitution creates the Department of Foreign Affairs
in July, 1789. Congress directed that the Secretary of the
Department of Foreign Affairs was to have "custody and charge
of all records, books, and papers," that had been kept by
the same department prior to the reorganization of the
government under the U.S. Constitution. Secretary Charles
Thomson retired transferring the Declaration of Independence to
the Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Roger Alden, on July
24, 1789. The name of the department was changed in September
1789 to the Department of State.

Upon his return from
France, Thomas Jefferson assumes the duties of the first
Secretary of State in March, 1790 which included custody of the
Declaration of Independence. In July, 1790 Congress ordered the
building of a permanent capital among the woodlands along the
Potomac River.

In 1800,
President John Adams
directs the Declaration and other government records to be moved
to the new federal capital in the
District of Columbia. The route taken to transport the
Declaration and other records was by boat down the Delaware
River into Delaware Bay and out to the Ocean to Chesapeake Bay
then up the Potomac River to Washington,
DC. The Declaration was kept at the new Treasury Department
building for two months than the next year at one of the "Seven
Buildings" at Nineteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

At war with Great Britain
in August of 1814, Secretary of State James Monroe informs
Stephen Pleasonton, a State Department clerk of the imminent
threat to the capital city and official records. Pleasonton had
the office staff pack the books, records, and the Declaration of
Independence into bags made of coarse linen. The day
before the British attacked Washington, DC, August 24, 1814 the
Government records including the Declaration was in route to
Leesburg, Virginia. The Declaration of Independence was safe in
a private home 35 miles away while the White House and other
buildings burned that same evening. The records remained
in Leesburg, Virginia for several weeks and until the British
troops and fleet had withdrawn from Washington and the
Chesapeake Bay.

1814

Location

The Declaration of
Independence was returned to the nation's capital in September
1814 to be housed in three different buildings until 1841. It
was observed that the last, a brick building, "offered no
security against fire."

The only engrossed signed
Declaration of Independence had been deteriorating at increasing
rates. In 1820, then Secretary of State,
John Quincy Adams
commissioned the making of exact copies of the Declaration of
Independence. Washington, DC's
William J. Stone would use a new process, Wet-Ink Transfer.
Although a copy was made, the Wet-Ink Transfer contributed to
the deterioration of the Declaration, by now a national symbol.
The Wet-Ink Transfer required the document to be moistened then
placed against a clean copper plate for transfer.

On June 4th, 1823
the National Intelligencer reported,
"the City Gazette informs us that Mr. Wm. J. Stone, a
respectable and enterprising (sic) engraver of this City has,
after a labor of three years, completed a facsimile of the
Original of the Declaration of Independence, now in the archives
of the government, that it is executed with the greatest
exactness and fidelity; and that the Department of State has
become the purchaser of the plate. The facility of multiplying
copies of it, now possessed by the Department of State will
render furthur (sic) exposure of the original unnecessary."

The United States Senate
and House of Representatives on May 26th resolved: "That two
hundred copies of the Declaration, now in the Department of
State, be dis­tributed in the manner following: two copies to
each of the surviving Signers of the Declaration of Independence
(John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, Charles Carroll of
Carrollton); two copies to the President of the United States (Monroe);
two copies to the Vice-President of the United States
(Tompkins); two copies to the late President, Mr.
Madison; two copies to
the Marquis de Lafayette, twenty copies for the two hous­es of
Congress; twelve copies for the different departments of the
Government (State, Treasury, Justice, Navy, War and Postmaster);
two copies for the President's House; two copies for the Supreme
Court room, one copy to each of the Governors of the States; and
one to each of the Governors of the Territories of the United
States; and one copy to the Council of each Territory; and the
remaining copies to the different Universities and Colleges of
the United States, as the President of the United States may
direct."

The 201 official parchment copies that were struck from the
plate carried in the upper left corner the identification "Engraved by W. J. Stone for the Department of
State, by order" followed by "of J. Q. Adams, Sec. of State July
4th 1824."
The identification was burnished out and the engraving "W. J.
Stone SC. Washn" was placed in the lower left for the subsequent
unofficial copies.

On June 11, 1841,
Secretary of State Daniel Webster ordered documents, usually on
display to visitors, to be transferred to the Patent Office
where suitable safe keeping and display, would be appropriate.
An inventory lists the Declaration of Independence as number 6.
The Declaration of Independence, mounted with George
Washington's commission in the same frame, hung on exhibit
opposite a window allowing exposure to sunlight. 35 years of
exposure to the sun added greatly to the deterioration of the
ink and parchment.

Congress, in 1848
commissions Peter Force to compile a series of books to be
entitled "The American Archives." chronicling the Archives from
1774 to 1777, Key founding documents were to be included.
Stone's Wet-Ink copper plate was removed from storage with the
identification being altered to reflect the reprinting. Printed
on rice paper from the Wet-Ink plate Peter Force printed in the
neighborhood of 900 to 1200 copies. Rice Copies were folded and
inserted into The American Archives, Volume One.

With no action taken a resolution was introduced to create a
commission to study restoration of the Declaration of
independence.

1876

Engrossed

Condition

William J. Canby, a candidate for the restoration wrote on April
13, 1876, to the Librarian of Congress, "I have had over
thirty years experience in handling the pen upon parchment and
in that time, as an expert, have engrossed hundreds of
ornamental, special documents." Canby continues suggesting,
"the only feasible plan is to replenish the original with a
supply of ink, which has been destroyed by the action of light
and time, with an ink well known to be, for all practical
purposes, imperishable."

1876

Engrossed

Location

From May to October, 1876
the Declaration of Independence was on exhibit for the
Centennial National Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Public Ledger of May 8, 1876 stated that it hung in
Independence Hall and was "framed and glazed for protection,
and …deposited in a fireproof safe especially designed for both
preservation and convenient display."

Now the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building, the new fireproof building of the
State, War, and Navy Departments provided a location more safe
than the previous as was proven by the fire that gutted the
Patent Office just a few months later. The Declaration of
Independence was displayed in a cabinet on the east side of the
State Department Library where it would be on display for the
next 17 years.

Thomas Jefferson had
been uncomfortable with the lodging in the heart of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Home of Hyman and Simon Gratz on the outskirts of town (7th
& Market Streets) was offered for rent to
Jefferson. He rented
two rooms on the second floor one was the bed chamber and the
other used as a sitting room where
Jefferson entertained
other members of Congress.
The original house was demolished in 1883. The National
Park Service rebuilt a replica of the home in 1975 for the
Bicentennial. The
Independence
Hall Association led efforts to rebuild Declaration House.

From 1789 the original
signed Declaration of Independence had been moved to various
locations then displayed at the Patent Office Building and then
the State Department Library. In 1894 the Declaration was pulled
from display due to the rapid fading and deteriorating
parchment.

A report on the condition
of the Declaration of Independence was released on April 24,
1903 by the National Academy of Sciences which summarized the
physical history of the Declaration.
"The instrument has suffered very seriously from the very harsh
treatment to which it was exposed in the early years of the
Republic. Folding and rolling have creased the parchment. The
wet press-copying operation to which it was exposed about 1820,
for the purpose of producing a facsimile copy, removed a large
portion of the ink. Subsequent exposure to the action of light
for more than thirty years, while the instru­ment was placed on
exhibition, has resulted in the fading of the ink, particularly
in the signatures. The present method of caring for the
instrument seems to be the best that can be suggested." -
National Academy of Sciences

The Declaration of
Independence was given some restoration and, as ordered in 1921,
displayed in a specially constructed frame of gold-plated bronze
doors and double panes of plate glass with specially prepared
gelatin film placed between to reduce harmful rays from light.
On February 28, 1924 the display was dedicated with the
attendees being President Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Coolidge,
Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and other prominent
guests. A 24 hour guard was assigned to the Declaration of
Independence.

1933

Engrossed

During the Great Depression in 1933, President Herbert Hoover
placed the cornerstone of a building that was to the National
Archives Building in Washington, DC. Designed specifically for
the safety and display President Hover announced that the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution would
eventually be placed in the exhibition hall of the new National
Archives Building. On two walls of the exhibition hall were
painted large murals; one where Thomas Jefferson presents the
Declaration of Independence to President John Hancock and the
other of James Madison presenting the U.S. Constitution to
George Washington.

The Original signed
Declaration of Independence was temporarily moved, after the
attack on Pear Harbor, to Fort Knox, for safe keeping during
World War II. The Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution were taken on December 23, 1941, and placed between
two sheets of acid-free manila paper then wrapped in a container
of all-rag neutral millboard then placed in another container
made of bronze that was padlocked on each side and sealed with
lead. On December 26 the records were taken to Louisville,
Kentucky. The package was met by Secret Service and Cavalry
troops of the 13th Armored Division assigned to the Fort Knox
Bullion Depository.

After all danger of enemy
attack had passed the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution were returned to the display at the Library of
Congress. The doors reopened for viewing on Sunday, October 1,
1944, at 11:30 a.m.

The National Archives took
permanent custodial ship of the Original Engrossed Copy of the
Declaration of Independence in 1952. The Library of Congress
ordered the transfer on April 30, 1952. The National Archives
was the official depository of government records and just
happened to be the most nearly bombproof building in Washington,
DC. The Documents were transferred in a formal ceremony on
December 15, 1952 with Wayne Grover, the Archivist of the United
States, taking receipt.
President Harry S. Truman as the main speaker stated, “The
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
Rights are now assembled in one place for display and
safekeeping. . . . We are engaged here today in a symbolic act.
We are enshrining these documents for future ages. . . . This
magnificent hall has been constructed to exhibit them, and the
vault beneath, that we have built to protect them, is as safe
from destruction as anything that the wit of modern man can
devise. All this is an honorable effort, based upon reverence
for the great past, and our generation can take just pride in
it.”

In 1982 the Colonial
American Documents from the Chew Family Papers were
published. Included is a copy of the "Dunlap Broadside"
(Declaration of Independence) that was a part of the Chew Family
Papers. The copy of the "Dunlap Broadside" came to the
Chew Family through Mary Chew the first wife of William Paca, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
installed a surveillance and computerized monitoring system in
1987. The Charters Monitoring System was designed to monitor the
state of condition of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S.
Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The system detects any
variation of the conditions such as readability, fading,
flaking, etc. as well as document dimensions, even conditions
that would evade the human eye. The system was designed by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory at a cost of Three Million Dollars
($3,000,000).

A Philadelphia,
PA man browsing through a flea market in 1989 came upon a
painting in which he was particularly interested in the frame
and paid 4 dollars for the piece of art. During the process of
removing the painting he found tucked among the backing an
original unsigned Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of
Independence.
See 1991, 1995,
2000.

Visual Equities, a fine
arts investment firm, obtained the Dunlap Broadside of the
Declaration of Independence, that was found in 1989, at
Southeby's in 1991. It was sold on behalf of the original
finder, bringing ($2,400,000) two million, four hundred thousand
dollars.
See 1989, 1995,
2000.

The unsigned "Dunlap
Broadside" that was found in 1998 sold at a New York City
Auction, Southeby's in June, 2000. TV Producer, Norman Lear, and
Chairman of Critical Pass Inc., David Hayden, paid ($ 8,140,000)
eight million one hundred forty thousand dollars. Estimating the
proceeds to come in at between 4 to 6 million dollars the
Southeby's auction closed at seven million four hundred thousand
dollars. Southeby's commission brought the total to the $8.14
million.
See 1989, 1991.
1995.

The Declaration of
Independence was examined meticulously with minor repairs made
before it was moved to a new encasement in 2003. The document is
displayed in a hermetically sealed case of glass and aluminum
that is filled with inert gas. The document is also monitored,
by modern computer technology, for signs of deterioration.

2004

Goddard
copies

Only nine copies of the
January 18, 1777 Goddard copies of the Declaration of
Independence with all signatures shown are known to exist. Those
copies as of 1949 are known to be located at:
Library of Congress -
Maryland Hall of Records
- Maryland
Historical SocietyMassachusetts Archives
- New York
Public Library
Library Company of Philadelphia -
Rhode Island State ArchivesConnecticut State Library of the
late John W. Garrett

2004

1823 Stone
copies

Only 33 of the 201
original Official Stone copies are know to still exist. Only 2
of the unofficial strikes on paper are known to exist.

Only a fragment exists of
Thomas Jefferson's
original draft of the declaration of independence. The "rough
draught" that was reviewed by the Committee of Five as well as
Thomas Jefferson's
original draft are among the manuscript collections of the
Library of Congress.

2006

Dunlap
copies

Dunlap
copies

Dunlap
copies

Only 25, of the July 4th&
5th, 1776, Dunlap Broadsides are known to exist to this day. The
original copy signed by John
Hancock and and Charles Thomson have not survived the first
two hundred years of American history. The 25 known copies of
the original Dunlap broadsides are owned by private owners,
American institutions as well as British institutions. Researching various differing lists I have compiled the
following list, which still remains in question.

Notes:1 One of the copies in the Library of Congress was
George Washington's personal
copy.2 The National Archives also holds the original
engrossed fully signed copy.3 Declaration of Independence Road Trip.4Privately owned library.

2006

Engrossed

Location

The Icon of Liberty, the
signed engrossed Declaration of Independence, is still on view
in the rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington
D.C. in the Charters of Freedom exhibit, that also includes the
Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. Every
year, the exhibit is viewed by more than one million Americans.